When I was in a job (believe me, one of the finest moments in life is when you deliberately make the word “JOB” a past tense never to make it present again), I was in Business Analytics division where writing business reports after statistically analyzing the market research or transactional data was a part of my job. I had a Manager who used to review my work and do you know what he used to focus on checking almost 90% of the times? The formatting, not the content, not the analysis as such but the formatting! No, my formatting was not bad, it had nothing to do with that. Strange as it might seem but so is the case with most of the people! We just seem to forget the core thing. When you ask someone that you have to give a speech on say a particular topic and how to make the speech effective, most people would suggest things on how to speak, how to pronounce, how to move your hands but very few, who are real intellectuals will tell you to focus mainly on the content of the speech!

Not surprisingly, similar is the case in case of film acting, ask any fool what do you require to become an Actor in Bollywood, and they would talk about looks, styling, energy, physique, 6packs, dance etc. but it’s amazing how only a few would tell that you need to keep gaining mastery over acting! I don’t say that the other aspects are not important but I strongly believe that if one is a good actor, he can pull off other things but if you’re a bad actor, you can’t pull most of the part of a film. Amitabh is by no means a good dancer but he can pull off all dancing sequences, Aamir is so chocolaty but he pulled off Sarfarosh due to his acting, Will Smith who is a black guy not considered good looking traditionally but he can act as dude in Hitch and also as a poor half bald guy in The Pursuit of Happyness.

Never get distracted from the core thing, sometimes the most obvious common sense thing gets the least attention. I’m sure all those actors who do not focus on acting would never be another Amitabh Bachchan or a Will Smith, they will always be just another actor or at the max just another star!

Benjamin Franklin said “Most people die at the age of 25 while they are buried at the age of 75” emphasizing the loss of dreams and getting into rut race by 25. I believe dreaming big should be a necessity and dreaming small is a sin! However, I’m quite sure that people who try to steal your dream are the biggest sinners on this Earth, they should be given capital punishment on the streets! Ha ha ha, you might be thinking I’m too hot headed, yes, I am in these matters. If you can’t inspire someone, at least do not demotivate. IF someone says we can’t produce a movie we want on our terms, the answer was very precise and very correct – “How do you know? Are you a Financier?” I add to that, even if are a Financier, can you read the minds of all the potential Financiers whom we would contact? So why the hell don’t you just shut up. Someone rightly said that God should have prejudged whom to give a mouth and whom not to.

If you can pull a dreamer up, do it. If you can’t or you believe that the dream can’t be fulfilled, ask yourself – can you say that the dream can’t be fulfilled with 100% surety? If you’ve even a little gray matter in your brain, you would know that almost always your answer would be No, you can’t! Then keep your negative thoughts to yourself. As I’ve written in the “About Me” column, I believe in the power of possibilities and the power of dreams is just unbelievable – anything is possible if the dream is strong enough, you always can’t always gauge how strong the other person’s dream is. So, inspire all dreamers around you and enjoy!